


time stops when i'm with you

by siringiri



Series: Mystery of the Millennium [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Ghosts, M/M, Past Character Death, Reapers, We have ghosts here so character death is a given, some hinted nohyuck here and there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-07-01 03:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15766110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siringiri/pseuds/siringiri
Summary: Jaemin is used to being the center of attention ever since he was born. So he didn't expect to find someone who is not giving him the attention like everybody else. Not only that, it's him who is actually interested in that someone.





	time stops when i'm with you

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so the game has changed a little now that Renjun has entered the scene. I find this hard to write though because I have a lot of ideas that I wanted to put in this story but I only managed to slip in like a few of them here and it got quite messy too. I tried to arrange them as neatly as I can, but I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with this outcome though. Did I mention before this series is focused on the 00 line? I'm so into them right now, that's why. Anyway, hope you enjoy another rusty piece of fiction here :))) Oh, I'd like to mention that everyone here calls Renjun using his Korean name just because the setting is in Korea, so I imagine the people finds his Korean name easier to say. Also because Jaemin always calls him using that name too irl, hahaha~

Jaemin is used to being the center of attention ever since he was born. Even in the place where he came from, he’s always the one people would turn their head and stare at, along with Jeno. So it’s really a given that they would also be the center of attention when they decided to blend in the world of normal humans. Just when they first walked into their new school together, they could already feel the gazes and hear what the other students were saying, including the ones inside their head courtesy to Jeno’s mind reading ability. Everyone has their eyes on them as expected.

 

What Jaemin didn’t expect is to find someone who is not giving him the attention like everybody else. Not only that, it’s _him_ who is actually interested in that someone.

 

That someone is none other than his own seatmate, the one who is sleeping peacefully on their shared desk in the middle of their history class, Huang Renjun.

 

_Seriously. He looks so beautiful even in his sleep._

 

_Can you not say that out loud or at least keep me out of it,_ a voice that sounds pretty much like Jeno’s echoes inside his head. Jaemin just rolled his eyes.

 

_As if you never accidentally send images of Lee Donghyuck into my vision,_ he bites back, but Jeno has closed up their telepathic line of thoughts before he finishes talking. Jaemin doesn’t mind it too much, because that means he can go back to staring at Renjun’s sleeping figure in peace now.

 

It’s kind of weird when he thinks about their whole situation again. When he first came as the transfer student of class 2-3 and talked to Renjun for the first time, the boy had been all smiley and welcoming, even starting up some friendly conversation and helping him with the lesson all day long, especially since they were going to have a quiz that day apparently. They even exchanged numbers and Renjun had promised to contact him first. (For the record, he didn’t.)

 

The next time they met, Jaemin was already seated in his seat, and Renjun entered the class looking like he hadn’t slept for days. Sure enough, Jaemin tried to ask him first what was wrong, but what he got was a big fat

 

“Who are you?”

 

along with confused but sleepy gaze directed at him.

 

Jaemin still remembers those words as if it was the very first thing Renjun has ever said to him. From that day onwards, Renjun has become the aloof and 24/7 sleepy boy that he has known today. They rarely have a talk, and even if they do, it consists of Renjun asking him to wake him up for the break time or if the teacher ever comes up to their desk (which is in the back row anyway), and of course, Jaemin waking him up for those occasions.

 

Another weird thing that he noticed from Renjun is his unpredictable actions. He would sometimes talk by himself into the thin air, but it’s not like the usual monologue people would have from time to time, it feels more like he’s having a talk with someone, judging from his gesture that comes out at times. One thing for sure is that he will always keep his volume low whenever he does that. Other than that, he tends to sleep-talk too. It’s quite a problem whenever the boy falls asleep in the class, because he simply does not control his voice’s volume in his sleep. It always leads into awkward situation of the students and the teacher staring towards their desk in unison, and Jaemin had no choice but to wake Renjun up.

 

“Stop! Stop it! Leave me alone! Just! No!”

 

This time, Renjun doesn’t just talk, but actually shouts in his sleep. Sure enough, everyone is staring, including the history teacher whose frown has gotten deeper.

 

“Hwang Injun,” the teacher starts calling as he walks towards their desk. Totally acknowledging the teacher’s intention to scold Renjun off, Jaemin starts shaking his seatmate’s shoulder fervently.

 

Then Renjun suddenly sits up and screams, once, totally up from sleep. He manages to startle everyone in the class, and the teacher even stops in his track because of the shock. The boy who just woke up though seems like in a daze, looking around him as if he’s looking for something.

 

“Sir, I need to go to the bathroom,” he says as he stands up and makes his way out of the classroom, not lingering a lot longer to wait for the teacher’s approval. Jaemin’s eyes follow the boy’s figure until he disappears outside.

 

Everyone in his class did warn him about Renjun being a weirdo the moment he becomes seatmates with the said boy, but that is exactly why he becomes intrigued by him. They don’t know that Jaemin likes weird, because he is kind of weird himself, even the people in the place where he came from would say the same thing. It makes him want to know even more about Renjun. Not to mention, he also has a beautiful face, although he wishes he can make those black circles under his eyes disappear. Or cook and feed him a lot of food, because he’s so dangerously thin.

 

_Oh my God, you’re so whipped for him._ A sudden familiar voice suddenly echoes in his head. Jaemin just smiles and starts thinking back to Jeno in the sweetest mental voice he can muster.

 

_Will you shut it down again or should you fight me right now? You know I can go to you right now._

There’s no reply coming back to him, which means Jeno must have closed the line again. He’s satisfied with this outcome.

 

 

 

“...just earlier during math, he dropped his pencil, but I swear I saw the pencil lifted on the air a little bit before he picked it up right off there! I’m telling you, he definitely can do telekinesis!”

 

When Donghyuck finally finishes his story and scans Renjun for a response, he starts gritting his teeth. The other boy is just staring at his lunch with empty eyes, which automatically concludes that he’s not listening.

 

“What do you think, Jisung?” He turns to the younger student sitting next to him, focused on eating up all his lunch. The said boy just nods and gives him an approving gesture while still chewing his food. Donghyuck sighs though, because that means Jisung didn’t pay attention to his story as well.

 

“Hyung,” Renjun suddenly says. “I have part-time job to do today, I can’t go. I only got the job for a few days now, so I can’t just take a day off so soon.”

 

Donghyuck suddenly gets goosebumps as his gaze slowly moves to the empty seat next to Renjun. Jisung also looks at the seat after pausing his eating for a moment to hear what Renjun has to say. He swallows the lump in his throat with much effort.

 

“Injun,” Donghyuck calls his friend and hits him on the shoulder once. The boy at least looks up into his eyes now. “You were not talking with us just now... right?”

 

Renjun looks at Donghyuck and Jisung with tired eyes before turning to stare at someone sitting next to him. “Ah, yeah, I was talking to Jungwoo hyung. Did you say anything to me?”

 

This time, it’s Donghyuck’s turn to swallow as he pulls Jisung in an embrace. “Dude, just because you’re used to ghosts talking to you doesn’t mean we are!” Meanwhile, Jisung tries to scoot closer to Donghyuck to avoid being right in front of the ghost. Renjun just rolls his eyes at them.

 

“It’s not like you just know me for one or two days. Besides, Jungwoo hyung is a friendly ghost. He’s always helped me whenever I have quizzes or tests.”

 

Jungwoo gives him two thumbs up, which Renjun replies with a slight smile and a nod.

 

“I thought you’d be more discreet about interacting with ghosts,” Jisung starts to say, “but you’re being so obvious now.”

 

“Well, you guys already knew about it, so what’s the point of being discreet...”

 

Both Donghyuck and Jisung send him looks of disagreement.

 

“Just get used to it,” Renjun says with a tone of finality. Donghyuck changes the topic to compensate for him and Jisung.

 

“Anyway, did you notice anything weird from Jaemin? You know, since he did transfer here together with Jeno, so I’m wondering...”

 

“Jaemin?” Renjun raises one of his eyebrows.

 

“Yes, Na Jaemin.” Donghyuck makes a gesture towards one of the tables far from them, where Jaemin and also Jeno sit together. Renjun follows where Donghyuck’s gesture leads him to with bored eyes. Right, those two has become quite the talk around the school especially among the girls, and Renjun thinks it’s because of their good looks. Which is why he opts to sleep all the time during the class the moment the teacher told him to sit at the same desk. He doesn’t want to get dragged into the attention as well. The kids probably told him about Renjun’s weird antics anyway, so it should’ve done the deal.

 

“He’s in your class, right?”

 

Renjun nods several times. “He’s my seatmate.”

 

“Oh!” Donghyuck claps his hands together, then points his finger at his friend. “Then you surely have noticed something weird from him if there’s any, right?”

 

“I don’t know, I just sleep in most of the lessons.”

 

The nonchalant reply makes Donghyuck’s expression start turning into a grimace.

 

“Hyung, if I have to be honest with you,” Jisung circles his arm around the elder’s shoulder, “I think you’re just hallucinating. Superpowers don’t exist in this world, Hyung. This is real life and real people you’re talking about, you can’t just force your fantasy to them.”

 

“But— you weren’t there when I saw that Jeno obviously lifts things with his mind! It’s not like it happens once or twice, but—”

 

Renjun tunes out the argument between the two, and instead looks again at Jungwoo who is staring at his lunch.

 

_You should finish them up, you said you have part-time job after school, right? So you need to store as much energy as you can._

That makes Renjun smile again, this time a little wider than earlier. “Thank you, Hyung.”

 

 

 

 

Jaemin finds himself mentally celebrating when he spots Renjun inside a café located not too far from his apartment. He enters the café right away and sees his classmate wearing an apron with the name of the café written on it, carrying a tray full of coffee cups. He frowns a little when he sees that the boy still looks like he’ll trip over at any given time, his thin arms definitely not helping in reducing his worry. Renjun manages to deliver the coffee cups to several tables safely though, which is quite a miracle in itself.

 

He decides to buy himself some coffee too.

 

“Good evening! What would you like to order?” a young man who is definitely older than him greets him from the opposite side of the counter.

 

“I’d like some iced latte, please.”

 

“Will you have the drink here, uh,” the cashier looks at him hesitantly, “Student? Are you a student?”

 

“Yes, I am. And I will have it here.”

 

After he finishes paying, he’s told to wait on one of the tables. The café is not too crowded at this hour, and he doesn’t see any other waiters on duty at the moment. He waits with an eager smile forming on his lips.

 

Surely, when the drink comes, Renjun is the one who delivers it to him. He shows a look of recognition when he arrives at Jaemin’s table.

 

“Oh, Na Jaemin. Fancy seeing you here,” he regards his seatmate as he brings his hand to the glass of iced latte.

 

“Yeah, I didn’t know you work here, Injun.”

 

“It hasn’t been long since I started here, so.” He puts the drink on his table. “I need to go back now, see you later.”

 

“Wait.” Jaemin takes a hold of Renjun’s wrist, which stops the latter from leaving. “You don’t have any customer waiting for you, so can we talk for a moment?”

 

Renjun raises his eyebrow while looking at Jaemin’s hand around his wrist. They are not really on casual speaking terms, so he finds it weird that the boy wants to talk to him, let alone holding his wrist just to do that. He wants to remind the boy that they’re not close, but decides to emphasize that by pulling his wrist away from his hold.

 

“What is it?”

 

Jaemin is a little disappointed that Renjun is still acting a little cold to him even though he’s been generous enough waking him up in class just like he asked. It’s not like he wants a repayment or anything, he just expected the boy to act at least a little friendly with him.

 

“You know, I’m just wondering... why didn’t you contact me back?”

 

The question earns him a confused look from Renjun. “Contact you? How would I be able to—”

 

“We exchanged numbers on my first day, remember? You said you’ll contact me first back then.”

 

“I did?” Renjun looks quite surprised now, which is something new for Jaemin. The boy looks at his left still in surprise, where Jungwoo is standing not too far away with a nervous smile forming on his face, his hand waving awkwardly. He scrunches up his face in frustration, then faces Jaemin back, trying to gain some composure.

 

“I guess I forgot about that, you know, I’m getting busy these days. I’m sorry.” With that, Renjun leaves immediately into the kitchen, with Jaemin still staring at his retreating figure. From the way he reacts, he can come into one conclusion.

 

Renjun wasn’t himself back then.

 

_Injun, I’m sorry._

The said boy turns to Jungwoo once he’s hidden in the confines of the kitchen.

 

“Hyung,” he starts in a hushed voice, which slowly rises up in volume, “how could you just give my number to a stranger when you were in my body!”

 

_But he’s not a stranger. He’s your classmate. Your seatmate, in fact._

He doesn’t know a thing about Jaemin, so it’s appropriate for him to call the boy a stranger in his opinion, he wants to say but decides to keep it in when Johnny, their one and only barista, comes to check the kitchen. “Everything okay here?”

 

“Yes, Hyung.” Renjun decides to busy himself with the dishes while waiting for Johnny to leave. Once he does, he finds Jungwoo already gone as well. He sighs again in frustration.

 

 

 

 

Ever since that day, Jaemin starts frequenting the café, particularly during the days Renjun has his shift. All he does whenever he stays in the café though, is staring at Renjun everywhere he goes, from one table to another back to the kitchen, which is the only time he stops and takes a sip of his drink. When he makes a visit with Jeno one day, the boy gives him a disapproving look as he looks at the workers behind the counter and then Renjun and then back to Jaemin.

 

“I can’t believe this is what you’ve been doing these past few days.” Jeno shakes his head for more emphasis. “Don’t you know that you’re totally being their main subject of gossip right now?”

 

“I know, and that’s exactly what I want to achieve,” Jaemin answers without taking his eyes off Renjun. Jeno’s disapproving gaze just intensifies.

 

“Why don’t you just talk with him properly? He’s your seatmate, for Christ’s sake.”

 

“I did try. He’s the one who keeps ignoring me,” Jaemin huffs, then his lips start to form a pout. It is true, Renjun still sleeps in the class and he doesn’t ask Jaemin to wake him up anymore. Yet, when the bell signaling the break time rings, he’ll wake up immediately and leave without saying a word. When he visits the café, he rarely comes out to deliver his drink, instead, a taller waiter who is apparently working the same shift as Renjun would be the one who does it for him.

 

Today though, Renjun has come to the table where Jaemin and Jeno sit to deliver their drinks. Apparently his fellow workers made him do that, as Jeno supplies. Jaemin can’t really hide his smile when he hears that, or when the boy arrives at their table with two glasses of drinks.

 

“One iced latte and one taro milkshake,” the waiter says flatly as he puts the drinks on the table.

 

“You’re busy today, I see,” Jaemin tries to start a talk with Renjun, which almost makes Jeno want to facepalm. The waiter seems unfazed by it though.

 

“Yeah, I need to go back now.”

 

“I know. But you better take care of yourself.”

 

Renjun was only about to turn around when Jaemin said that, which makes him halt for a moment. The latter takes advantage of it by continuing.

 

“You look like you might faint any time, so I just hope you take care of your health well.”

 

“I can take care of myself just fine, thanks though.” There’s a slight edge in Renjun’s voice, but Jaemin is still happy to hear more words spoken from him. His eyes are still fixated at the boy’s retreating figure until he disappears behind the kitchen again.

 

“I’m not going here with you anymore,” Jeno says as he finally does facepalm.

 

“Why? What’s wrong?” Jaemin frowns when he looks back at his best friend. “Did you read his mind?”

 

“He’s mostly just dreading your existence in his head, you don’t want to know the details.”

 

“Huh,” Jaemin leans back into his seat as he folds his arms, “does he hate me or something?”

 

“It’s not that he hates you, he just doesn’t want to have more friends around him right now.”

 

“Why?”

 

Jeno looks at him as if he just realizes something, which alerts Jaemin. _You find out something about him_. When Jaemin tries to prod into his friend’s mind, he can feel the wall in between them. For once since they come here together, Jeno starts to show a hint of smile on his face.

 

“I think it’ll be interesting if you find out by yourself.”

 

His smile gets wider when Jaemin’s frown gets deeper instead.

 

 

 

 

“Okay, so is it just me or is Na Jaemin really staring at our table right now?”

 

Renjun doesn’t even turn to check if Jaemin is really doing what Donghyuck said, because the answer would be yes. Not only does Jaemin stare at him while working, but it also continues in school. It’s not like he doesn’t stare at him before their confrontation at the café, because he sometimes notices him staring at him at times when he pretends to sleep in class, but he’s being way too obvious now that he can practically hear the students around them gossiping about it already under their breaths.

 

“Hyung, he’s not staring at our table, he’s staring at Injun hyung,” Jisung corrects Donghyuck, which earns a glare from the elder.

 

“I know that! And what did you do that makes him stare at you like that?” Donghyuck directs the question at Renjun sitting in front of him, his eyes downcast on the food on the table. Renjun sighs while looking exhausted.

 

“It’s... when Jungwoo hyung was in my body, he was being friendly to him that makes him like that, I think.”

 

“What? You let a ghost enter your body and that ghost got you in trouble?” Donghyuck raises his tone in a mix of surprise and disdain, then realizes what he was talking about a second too late and he suddenly gets chills on his bone. Jisung seems to be shivering too from the realization. Donghyuck looks at the usual empty seat next to Renjun and puts together his hands towards the seat. “I’m sorry for talking bad about you, but you can’t just do that to my friend.”

 

“He’s not here right now,” Renjun helpfully informs, which prompts Donghyuck to freeze before putting down his hand awkwardly.

 

“Thank God... but seriously, why did you even let a ghost enter your body? And how friendly did he get with Jaemin?”

 

Renjun sighs first before starting to answer hesitantly. “Well, he takes over for me during tests because he’s good at studying, and...”

 

“Hyung, you must’ve been crazy! You should’ve just studied by yourself or listened to the teacher during the lesson!”

 

“I can’t. I actually have a hard time sleeping in class too... the ghosts always find ways to disturb me in sleep.”

 

“Oh, poor little Renjun,” Donghyuck coos, which earns a hard glare from the said boy. He ignores it though. “You want to sleep at my place maybe some time? Under one condition though, you better not point out if there are ghosts or not in my house.”

 

“Your house is far from my workplace though. You want to pick me up all the time there?”

 

“I said some time, my friend.”

 

“Enough of that, Hyungs,” Jisung cuts off their conversation and makes small gesture towards where Jaemin sits with Jeno as usual. “You’re going to do something about that or not, Injun hyung?”

 

This time, Renjun finally looks back at Jaemin, whose smile starts to grow on his face. He even waves at Renjun, who reacts by frowning. He sighs again, this time turning back to his friends.

 

“I should probably talk to him...”

 

To be honest, if Renjun had the choice, he’ll just ignore Jaemin for the rest of his life. But the staring is getting out of hand that it creates unwanted attention not only from other students, but also from his co-workers (like that time they definitely set him up to deliver drinks to Jaemin’s table) even though he barely interacts with the boy. So when they enter the classroom again after the break time, he brings up the topic to his seatmate first.

 

“Can you stop staring at me?”

 

Jaemin looks a little surprised when Renjun actually starts talking to him first, but then he starts grinning widely.

 

“Is it that obvious?” he asks with a hint of mirth in his tone. Renjun is definitely not liking it.

 

“Are you for real?” Renjun throws back with an intention to add some edge in his voice, which gives an opposite effect. Jaemin’s grin is getting wider, if that’s possible.

 

“I will if you’re willing to go on a date with me.”

 

Renjun’s eyes widen, but before he can say anything, Jaemin beats him to it first.

 

“As friends. Friends can also go on dates. I want to be friends with you.”

 

From somewhere in the back of his head, Renjun can hear someone that sounds awfully like Jungwoo telling him to go for it. The more suspicious part of him is just a tad bit stronger though.

 

“Why do you want to be friends with me?”

 

“Because you’re the one who wanted to be my friend first? So why not?”

 

Damn it, Jungwoo must’ve said something along the lines of that to him back then. He starts cursing under his breath which Jaemin can probably hear anyway. “Fine. But I can’t go on a date with you yet, I’m still really busy for the rest of the week.”

 

“It’s okay. You have my number anyway, so you can just contact me when you can go out.”

 

Renjun swears he saw Jaemin wink at him before turning back to face the front of the class, where the teacher finally enters.

 

_What did I just get myself into?_

 

 

 

 

Since then, their frequency of talks starts to grow, even though not by much. At times when Renjun doesn't feel like sleeping in class, they would share some small talks, from the lesson to trivial stuff about themselves. (During these times Jaemin realizes that Renjun probably fake-sleeps sometimes in one of those days.) Not only that, Jaemin would sometimes join him during lunch break.

 

(Donghyuck and Jisung keep looking at Renjun and Jaemin awkwardly. Noticing both of their hesitation, Renjun’s frown is getting deeper.

 

“Guys, just continue eating. It’s not like Jaemin is going to steal your food or something.” He then takes a look at the boy sitting at the used-to-be empty seat next to him. “You won’t steal their food, right?”

 

“Hmm? No, not at all,” Jaemin answers as he keeps his eyes trained on Renjun with that stupid wide grin of his.

 

“Can you also not stare at me when I’m eating?”

 

“Not until you secure a day for our date.”

 

At that, Donghyuck almost chokes on his food, and Jisung almost spits the water he was drinking. Then the two of them start shooting laser eyes at Renjun that he definitely doesn’t want to see.)

 

True enough, the two of them start becoming the talks among the students with various speculations. Some wondering why Jaemin would want to hang out with Renjun, and some wondering if they’re actually dating.

 

“Why won’t I hang out with him? He’s a cool guy,” Jaemin says with a frown, but then it changes into a smile. “Dating, huh... I wonder.”

 

“I can practically see it in your mind,” Jeno deadpans. Jaemin pouts again.

 

“You’re being so unfair. You’ve been closing our telepathic line for almost a week already, isn’t it time for you to open it back?”

 

Jeno shakes his head. “No, no, can’t risk getting Injun’s secret out in the open for you.”

 

That earns an annoyed huff from Jaemin. “Seriously, is the secret all that bad? It’s not like I don’t have my own secret and I don’t mind sharing it with him.”

 

“But you haven’t shared your secret to him, right?”

 

“Yet.” It’s not like he has a chance to show it, nor is Renjun interested in it. The boy is too wrapped up in his own world. “I really want to know about him first.”

 

“Good luck with that. I’m going to sleep now.” Jeno makes his way back to his room, leaving Jaemin all alone in his own. Right at that time, Jaemin’s phone lights up signaling a new message. The name of the sender catches his eyes right away.

 

**_Injunnie~ ❤  
_ **

_What do you think about going out tomorrow?_

 

 

 

Renjun immediately regrets it the moment he presses send on his phone. He doesn’t even know what comes over him when  his boss texted him that he’ll close up the café for one day because of family matters and then he suddenly remembers he has Jaemin’s contact. Maybe he just wants to make sure that Jaemin won’t annoy him with his staring just like what he promised, or maybe the boy has grown on him a little bit. Just a little.

 

His phone vibrates not too long after, which means Jaemin has replied his message.

 

**_Na Jaemin_ **

_Sure! Where should we go?_

 

The ghost of a little boy watching from behind him immediately cheers and tells the other ghosts in the building that their resident ghost whisperer has scored himself a date.

 

“It’s not a date!” Renjun has screamed after the little boy, but he gets ignored. He sighs while contemplating how he should reply the message.

**_Injunnie~ ❤_ **

_I dunno where to go... do you have any suggestion?_

**_Na Jaemin_ **

_How about we hang out in Dongdaemun? We can meet up outside DDP._

**_Injunnie~ ❤  
_ **

_Alright, what time?_

**_Na Jaemin_ **

_2 pm is alright with you?_

**_Injunnie~ ❤_ **

_Ok_

 

**_Na Jaemin_ **

_Cool! See you tomorrow! :))_

 

Sure enough, the ghosts in the building start gathering in and around his room that night and make him unable to sleep with their unstoppable noises of questions. He tries to answer as best as he can and then try to go to sleep after that, but they are still being noisy even after most of them have left his room, and he ends up not getting even a blink of sleep until the sun rises in the morning. Again. He looks like hell when he stares at his own reflection in the mirror. It’s supposed to be a happy Sunday but he looks like he’s gotten Monday blues already. It’s not that wrong since the next day would be Monday, but still.

 

_You’re going on a date today, right?_ The ghost of a middle-aged lady surprises him when he just comes out of the bathroom. _You need help picking your clothes?_

“No, thank you,” he rejects as he opens his small closet. There’s not much that he can call as decent when he needs to go out. It’s not like he cares so much about his fashion when he goes out with Donghyuck and Jisung, but somehow, it takes him a whole five minutes of standing in front of the closet and he still doesn’t know what to wear.

 

“That sky blue shirt paired with a pair of black pants will look good.”

 

Renjun turns around in surprise upon hearing the voice all of the sudden. He’s met face to face with someone wearing all black, from his fedora hat, his suits, pants, and shoes. _A grim reaper._ He also realizes that the ghosts hanging out in his room are all gone, probably got spooked from the reaper’s sudden appearance.

 

“Mark,” he mutters the name of the reaper. “What brings you here?”

 

“Oh, I got an order to pick up a spirit named Kim Jungwoo.” He takes out a card out of nowhere and looks down at it. “Apparently it’s his one thousandth day of roaming the earth today, so I need to collect him before the sunset or he'll turn into a poltergeist. I heard he hangs out with you often, so that’s why I came here.”

 

Hearing Mark’s explanation, Renjun becomes worried. It’s been a few days since he last saw Jungwoo around, he just realizes. Apparently he hasn’t even got collected, which complicates the matter. Where would he be?

 

“I don’t know where he is,” he states truthfully. Mark observes him with attentive eyes, then he looks around the small room.

 

“I guess you won’t know. There’s no aura of an expiring spirit around here.”

 

Expiring spirit. It sounds so dreadful for Renjun. For all of his days lately invested between his school and part-time job, he didn’t know that Jungwoo was reaching his limit. Even though he did make quite a mess in his social life (or just with Jaemin, really), he helped him a lot, especially in his studies. He cheered him up too when life gets a little harder sometimes.

 

As Mark disappears into thin air, he can’t help but feel restless for the missing ghost.

 

 

 

 

For some reason, Jaemin knew he would be the first one who arrives at the location where they have promised to meet up. Actually, he doesn’t even mind that, because he’s just excited to be able to spend some time with Renjun, and not to mention, the weather today is also perfect. He already imagines a whole day ahead of him with Renjun, and at first it keeps his excitement. But the more he waits, the more another part of him wonders if the boy will actually come or not. After thirty minutes has passed though, he presses the call button on Renjun’s number. There’s no way he gets stood up by him, right?

 

For the first call, there’s no answer, which makes him slightly anxious. Then he goes for the second call, which goes unanswered as well. When he calls for the third time though, the call finally gets answered.

 

“Hello? Injun, where are you?”

 

He doesn’t get an immediate answer, but he hears labored breath on the other line, like someone who has just run around breathlessly.

 

_“Na... Na Jaemin? Why did you call?”_

 

“What? Are you serious?” Jaemin is in total disbelief. “Don’t tell me that you forgot our appointment today? I’ve been waiting for you for thirty minutes now.”

 

_“Oh... So Injun was on his way to meet you...”_

 

That raises an alarm inside his head. Renjun has just referred to himself in third person. That can only mean...

 

_“I think I need to take this chance to say sorry to you. I’m sorry for what I’ve done on your first day, you must’ve been in shock when you found out about Injun’s real personality, but yeah, it wasn’t him on that day, it was me. Sorry for making you confused...”_

“Where are you right now? I’ll go to you.” Jaemin starts walking away from the plaza.

 

_“I can’t tell you, I’m sorry. But Injun will come to you soon.”_

“Wait, tell me where you are, so I can—”

 

The phone call gets disconnected, and it definitely doesn’t ease the worry that has grown within the short time he was on the phone. He contemplates if he should wait or do something. At that moment, he remembers about his dormant ability that gets overpowered by his time controlling power, one that can probably work if he tries to concentrate hard enough. So he closes his eyes and tries to concentrate in finding Renjun.

 

At first, it’s just dark just like how it would be for anyone whenever they close their eyes. He tries to imagine Renjun, from his hair to the shoes that he wears everyday be it at school or at work. The image inside his head is slowly getting clearer as he can see the boy running on the sidewalk (and also he compliments his choice of fashion today, the blue shirt looks good on him) holding onto a small envelope in his right hand. He takes a look of the surroundings before focusing on Renjun, who has stopped running and is now standing near the traffic light. Then he turns around facing him.

 

Jaemin opens his eyes, and immediately goes to fetch a taxi heading to Gangnam. It would be his first time ever going to the sophisticated area, so he’s maybe a little worried he’ll get lost. Hopefully Renjun knows his way around there though.

 

He asks the taxi driver to pull down once he sees an area that he saw in his vision earlier. It’s the area around the traffic light. He wonders if Renjun has gone far away from there or if he’s just around. So he tries to concentrate again, trying to remote-view where the boy is right now. This time, he sees Renjun stopping on the opposite side of a big building. When he looks up, he sees “SM Entertainment” written on top of it. Without wasting much time, he makes his way to the building.

 

The SM Entertainment building is definitely hard to miss though, since it doesn’t take him more than ten minutes to find it. He is now standing at the exact spot where he has seen Renjun the last time, and the said boy is now right in front of the building. In fact, he watches Renjun stepping backwards, away from the building and then turns around to suddenly make a run along the sidewalk. When he starts running, Jaemin also follows until they reach a crosswalk, where Renjun decides at that moment to cross the road. At the same time, Jaemin sees a speeding car going towards the boy. He almost sends himself in panic but when he looks back at Renjun for a split second, a thought appears in his head. He has to save him.

 

For this, he doesn’t need to close his eyes. He stares at Renjun’s panicked face and everything freezes around him.

 

The time just stops.

 

Jaemin lets a sigh of relief before walking towards the middle of the crosswalk to pull Renjun away from the danger of the speeding car to the side of the road. He knows that by doing this would also unfreeze Renjun, but he does it anyway as he pulls the boy who’s now on a daze. When they finally get to the safe sidewalk, Renjun looks down to his wrist where Jaemin’s hand is wrapped around, and then up to the boy’s face. There are creases of worries on Jaemin’s forehead, but he barely notices them as he takes a look around him. Everyone seems to be doing some sort of mannequin challenge, but that doesn’t explain the balloons that a little girl accidentally lets go get suspended midair, or the car that can’t just suddenly come to a stop after running at such speed, or the complete silence that is not supposed to exist within a busy district of the big city.

 

He feels his head going light when he looks back at Jaemin, and before he knows it, he just faints into the boy’s embrace.

 

 

 

 

_Huang Renjun_

_It was your fault_

_that both of your parents died_

_This is your curse_

_that you brought upon yourself_

_Live on_

_until you feel your regrets tearing you apart_

 

“No!”

 

He can feel his heartbeat going at a faster rate than usual and sweats gathering on his forehead when he wakes up from the nightmare. It’s a rather unusual environment he wakes up to, because it looks like a hospital room, and there is Jaemin standing on his bedside. He looks at the boy with questioning eyes.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

Jaemin squints his eyes upon hearing his question. “You _are_ Injun, right?”

 

Renjun is getting even more confused before he remembers something. When he was on his way to meet Jaemin, Jungwoo reached out to him after Mark left his place, said he needed to do something, and Renjun agreed to lend him his body until before 2 pm. Then... everything was a blur, but he remembers the moment right before passing out. It was... strange. Was it just a dream though?

 

Jaemin starts waving his hand in front of Renjun’s face, which does grab his attention back to him.

 

“You’re Injun, right? Not someone else right now?”

 

He gulps while wondering what is it again that Jungwoo did while he was using his body. “I am me right now... what are you even talking about?”

 

“When I called you earlier on the phone you said you weren’t Injun and even said sorry for whatever you did on my first day at school.”

 

Renjun closes his eyes while also dreading the situation inside his head.

 

“So, what was that all about?” Jaemin sits back on the chair located on the bedside and also folds his arms on the side of the bed while putting his chin on top of it, his eyes looking expectantly at the boy lying on the bed. “I’m not going to force you or judge you about it though. And whatever it is, your secret is safe with me.”

 

When he opens his eyes again to face Jaemin, he finds the boy looking at him with doe eyes looking more glistening than usual. He doesn’t really force him, but the look on his eyes seems to be on purpose to push him over the edge, because he’s like that cat in Shrek with those eyes. Renjun regrets ever looking at Jaemin looking like this.

 

He sighs once in defeat. “It was a ghost.”

 

Jaemin blinks once and lifts his chin from his arms.

 

“Yeah, well, I can see ghosts. Hear them. Can’t touch them though. But yeah, back then, a ghost I knew possessed me on my permission. Didn’t know he’ll strike up any conversation with you though.”

 

When he looks back to see Jaemin’s reaction, he doesn’t expect the boy keeping up a poker face as he takes it in. He sees a few spirits start gathering in the room too after that confession, which are the last of his worries at the moment. He decides to nudge Jaemin’s hand on the bed, urging him to say something.

 

“I don’t know... I thought you’d have a bigger secret other than this,” Jaemin comments as he puts a hand on his chin. His rather underwhelming reaction makes Renjun feeling rather confused. “I don’t understand why Jeno would make such a big deal out of this though.”

 

The last sentence is actually Jaemin muttering to himself, but Renjun hears it anyway, and is taken aback by it. “Huh? What? What did you just say?”

 

Jaemin seems to realize what he just said as he covers his mouth with widened eyes, but in glee. Right at that moment, the door suddenly opens, revealing Donghyuck who immediately runs to the other side of the bed.

 

“Hwang Injun! I came here right away when I heard you fainted!” Then he hits Renjun on his arm, which earns a yelp from the boy. “What did I tell you about not being too hard on yourself? You should really find another place to sleep, oh no, you’re sleeping in my house today, that’s final.”

 

Jaemin watches them in amusement while Donghyuck scolds Renjun for some more. It takes awhile for Donghyuck to finally regard him.

 

“Oh, Jaemin, thank you for calling me here. But how did you even get to meet each other today?”

 

Renjun sends a look at Jaemin demanding an explanation regarding how he called Donghyuck here. But when he turns back to his best friend, he can see Donghyuck’s facial expression twisting from shock to a knowing smile to looking rather suspicious of something.

 

“Were you guys perhaps... on a date?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“No!”

 

 

 

 

Renjun takes a few days off from school and work altogether and spends those days resting in Donghyuck’s house. His parents are very welcoming of him, thankfully. Also, he does spot a few ghosts around the house, but none of them are the noisy type like the one in his place, so he can actually sleep in peace for once. He also doesn’t tell Donghyuck about their existence.

 

Mark comes visiting him in one of those days, informing that he already collected Jungwoo’s spirit safely. He also gets to hear what Jungwoo did when he was possessing his body. Apparently, Jungwoo knew someone in SM Entertainment, a trainee who is preparing for his debut in the company’s upcoming boygroup. He was delivering a letter to that trainee, but what was in the letter or what was his relationship with the trainee, Renjun doesn’t know. It’s not like Mark will tell him either, he just doesn’t like getting involved into human’s business too deeply.

 

While resting, his mind sometimes goes back to the moment when he passed out before Jaemin. The more he thinks about it, the more he feels that moment was real and unreal at the same time.

 

People suddenly becoming mannequins, the balloon staying at a certain height, the car’s wheels coming to a stop, the unusual silence...

 

And there was Jaemin looking at him with concern, holding him in place.

 

This time, he’s the one who becomes intrigued by the boy.

 

 

 

 

When Renjun finally comes back to school, Jaemin welcomes him with wide smile and open arms. He literally hugs him when he just enters the classroom, which earns the looks and whispers from other students, of course. But Renjun doesn’t have the energy to push him off nor does he actually feel the urge to, so he lets Jaemin do what he wants, including escorting him to his seat.

 

“I really missed you so much! Didn’t you read my message to you? Why didn’t you reply any of them? The school was so boring when you were not around!”

 

Jaemin keeps throwing him one question after another, exclaiming one statement after another, which Renjun just replies with yes or no or a short answer or a nod or a shake of his head or a shrug of his shoulders. It’s overwhelming, but he feels rather... warm. He lets the warmth seep into his heart this time.

 

As they finally start the lesson, it just has to be history, and that means it’ll be quite boring. Even though Renjun decides he needs to listen to the teacher now because Jungwoo is not around anymore, he can only feel sleepiness taking him over as they’ve been only fifteen minutes into the lesson.

 

Jaemin surely notices this, as he nudges Renjun on his arms, and says, “Just sleep. You need it.”

 

Renjun immediately caves in, of course, and puts his head on the table as he closes his eyes, while hoping none of the ghosts will bother him in his sleep.

 

What wakes him up five minutes into his sleep is not ghost, but instead a touch on his head, like someone caressing him. He lifts his head a little and opens one eye to see that it’s Jaemin who did it.

 

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up? You can just go back to sleep.”

 

He takes notice of the complete silence engulfing the space. He doesn’t hear the students talking among themselves or the teacher explaining the material, so he takes a look around him, still with one opened eye.

 

It’s like that again. Everyone becomes mannequins, the students and the teacher included. He also spots a ghost of a student in his peripheral vision, also not moving an inch, but his eyes are trained on him. That gives Renjun a little goosebumps.

 

“Come on, just go back to sleep,” he hears Jaemin as the boy touches his head again. Renjun turns to face him as he puts his head on the desk. He doesn’t ask him about it, because he thinks he’s figured it out. He lets himself drift into the dreamland while looking into Jaemin’s comforting gaze, somehow feeling rather certain that at least he will not encounter any nightmare for now.


End file.
